Funny, It Was Not: Mark Hamill Embarrassed By Iowa Representative’s Awful Yoda Impression
When Yoda just kind of died in The Empire Strikes Back, could it be because he looked into the future and saw cringe?
Ever since Star Wars premiered in 1977, politicians have been quick to assign themselves the roles of the rebel alliance while describing leaders of the opposite party as if they were walking Death Stars whose exhaust ports are canvassing and campaign donations. Even George Lucas has taken part in the lazy practice of pretending that his morally simplistic film series could be used as an analogy for American politics, as he once described George W. Bush and Dick Cheney as Darth Vader and The Emperor respectively. However, as cliche as a Star Wars comparison in a political discussion may be, it’s still not quite as embarrassing as a bad Yoda impression.
Last week, Iowa state representative Mike Sexton, a man who was presumably chosen for his position of power by grown adults, made the astoundingly poor decision to call on Iowan voters to support embattled former president Donald Trump by delivering a 30-second speech in-character as a certain wizened Jedi Master. The call-to-action quickly drew ridicule from across the online galaxy — even Luke himself had to turn off his targeting computer and drop a bomb on the embarrassment.
Much like when he trashed the Death Star, Hamill had plenty of help in burying Sexton’s horribly ill-conceived co-opt of Hamill’s most iconic work. “He sounds more Bobcat Goldthwait than Yoda though,” one commenter added, with another chiming in, “Kermit ate Yoda then had a minor stroke on stage.”
To me, the funniest part of the video is how Sexton starts with full commitment to the original character, but you can clearly hear how he loses faith in his vision halfway through only to overcompensate in an uninspiring conclusion. It’s basically the Disney trilogy of dogshit Yoda impressions.